The Washington Post - 07.09.2019

and New York.

Revelations that chief execu-

tive Wayne LaPierre spent hun-

dreds of thousands of dollars on

luxury menswear and travel, and

that the NRA considered buying

him a multimillion-dollar estate,

have spurred calls for his resigna-

tion. NRA officials, including

Hammer and LaPierre’s repre-

sentatives, have staunchly de-

fended their stewardship of NRA

SEE NRA ON A

The disclosure of the below-

market interest rate granted to

Hammer, an NRA board member

who is one of the nation’s l eading

gun lobbyists, comes as the or-

ganization is being battered by

reports of economic benefits

flowing to its top leadership.

Those reports have fueled inter-

nal warfare at the nation’s most

powerful gun lobby as well as

investigations by the Democratic

attorneys general of the District

rector of the Unified Sportsmen

of Florida, which receives most of

its budget f rom the NRA, t ook out

the loans to refinance or pur-

chase homes, according to the tax

filings. Since 1995, when Ham-

mer began borrowing money, she

has bought or helped buy several

properties in Ta llahassee — in-

cluding one where a daughter

resides and another where a

granddaughter resides, property

and other records show.

BY BETH REINHARD

AND TOM HAMBURGER

A past president of the Nation-
al Rifle Association has taken out
loans totaling more than
$250,000, at an interest rate as
low as 2 percent, from the NRA’s
Florida affiliate, a nonprofit that
she has led for decades and that
employs only her, according to
the organization’s tax filings.
Marion Hammer, executive di-

in Singapore since April, Mnan-

gagwa said last month. Singa-

pore’s Foreign Ministry said his

body would be flown back to Zim-

babwe.

Mr. Mugabe was forced to re-

sign as Zimbabwe’s leader days

after the army staged a coup in

November 2017. At the time, he

was the world’s oldest head of

state and one of Africa’s longest-

serving l eaders.

Mnangagwa, who served as Mr.

Mugabe’s vice president, is a wily

and resilient veteran of Zimba-

bwe’s i ndependence war who once

led the feared internal security

service. Nicknamed “the Croco-

SEE MUGABE ON A

BY GLENN FRANKEL

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbab-
wean president who rose to power
as a champion of anti-
colonial struggle but during 37
years of authoritarian rule presid-
ed over the impoverishment and
degradation of one of sub-
Saharan Africa’s most promising
countries, died Sept. 6 at a hospi-
tal i n Singapore. He w as 95.
Zimbabwe’s current leader,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, an-
nounced the death on Twitter but
did not disclose the cause. Mr.
Mugabe, who had displayed phys-
ical decline over recent years, had
been receiving hospital treatment

 Capital of kindness

A Canadian province

sheltered stranded travelers

on 9/11. That compassion has

turned Newfoundland and

Labrador into a tourist

destination. Magazine

Wright time A tailored trail

of Frank Lloyd Wright’s

buildings in Illinois and

Wisconsin follows the arc of

his creativity. Travel

Fall Arts Preview

Unorthodox takes on “Swan

Lake” — featuring Bob Dylan

and bare-chested swans —

are among our critics’ picks

for the best performances,

music and arts exhibits of the

season. Arts & Style

REAL ESTATE

Keeping the disasters out

of your next DIY project

Sure, the home improvement show

on TV makes it look easy to install

a dream bathroom and a wood-

burning oven, even to build a tiny

house from scratch. So, are you

going to do it yourself or are you

going to destroy it yourself?

THE ECONOMY

Slow hiring adds to data

hints of coming downturn

Missed expectations for hiring in

August — and numbers padded in

part by temporary hires for the

2020 Census — add to trends

indicating that the trade war is

having an effect and the economy

might be near a rough patch. A

in sunday’s post Inside

NICHOLAS STEVENSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

CONTENT © 2019

The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 276

BUSINESS NEWS ............................................. A

COMICS ............................................................. C

OPINION PAGES...............................................A

LOTTERIES.........................................................B

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TELEVISION ....................................................... C

WORLD NEWS....................................................A

$ 406

ABCDE

Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. M2 V1 V2 V3 V

Mostly sunny 84/66 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 83/67 B6 Democracy Dies in Darkness SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 , 2019. $

BY FENIT NIRAPPIL,

KIRK ROSS,

REIS THEBAULT

AND SARAH KAPLAN

jacksonville, n.c. — A tsuna-

mi-like storm surge from Hurri-

cane Dorian ripped through

North Carolina’s Outer Banks on

Friday — a towering wall of water

that left residents trapped and

powerless. A strong tropical storm

once again exposed the vulnera-

bilities of the narrow barrier is-

lands in a n era of extreme weather

and r ising seas.

The hurricane that had

swooped along the Eastern Sea-

board for days made landfall at

Cape Hatteras as a Category 1

storm, far weaker than when it

was a Category 5 behemoth that

delivered a marathon assault on

the B ahamas earlier in t he w eek.

But in this low-lying communi-

ty b uilt on a foundation o f shifting

sand, Dorian was still severe

enough to cause an “absolute ma-

jor disaster,” s aid Peter Vankevich,

a resident of Ocracoke Island,

along the southern stretch of the

Outer B anks.

The hurricane wrought much

SEE DORIAN ON A

BY JULIET EILPERIN

AND STEVEN MUFSON

The Justice Department has
launched an antitrust investiga-
tion of four leading automakers
over an agreement they forged
with the state of California to
maintain higher fuel efficiency
standards than those sought by
the Trump administration, esca-
lating the stakes in the long-run-
ning battle between the White
House and C alifornia.
The Justice Department de-
clined t o comment Friday, but t wo
other federal agencies said the
state’s deal with Ford, Honda,
Volkswagen and BMW of North
America on gas mileage targets
may be in violation of the law and
warned of l egal consequences.
California officials, who have
repeatedly asserted the state’s
rights under the 1970 Clean Air
Act, criticized the inquiry as politi-
cization t o impose the R epublican
president’s policies.
“The U.S. Department of Justice
brings its weight to bear against
auto companies in an attempt to
frighten them out of voluntarily
making cleaner, more efficient
cars and trucks than EPA wants,”
Mary Nichols, chair of the Califor-
nia Air Resources Board, said in a
statement. “ Consumers might ask,
who is [EPA Administrator] Andy
Wheeler protecting?”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
SEE AUTOMAKERS ON A

BY MARIA SACCHETTI,

DAN LAMOTHE

AND ANTHONY FAIOLA

abaco islands, bahamas —

With time running out to save

stranded survivors of Hurricane

Dorian, Bahamian and U.S. rescue

crews combed through rubble in

the hardest-hit areas Friday and

braced for the death toll to rise.

Five days after the storm made

landfall in the Bahamas as a Cat-

egory 5 hurricane, authorities

said it was unclear how many

people were in need of assistance

and how many had died. Officials

and aid organizations struggled

to reach remote towns in the

sprawling island nation, with lo-

gistical issues preventing the de-

ployment of rescue boats and air-

craft.

“My house is gone, e verything I

have is gone; this is all I’ve got

left,” Eddie Peredema, a gardener

in Marsh Harbour, said as he

pointed to his green T-shirt. “We

need food, we need shelter. We

need help, right now.”

Marsh Harbour, the largest

SEE RESCUE ON A

California

auto pact

faces legal

broadside

Critics call Justice Dept.’s

probe of emissions deal

a politicized attack

Dorian

rips into

Outer

Banks

WEAKENED STORM

STILL INUNDATES

For vulnerable islands,

yet another clobbering

NRA affiliate gave low-rate loan to o∞cial who leads it

ROBERT MUGABE 1924-

He fought to liberate Zimbabwe.

Then as ruler, he drove it to ruin.

JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Robert Mugabe, seen in 20 17 , rose to prominence as a bookish,

principled anti-colonial fighter. He ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years.

‘We need help, right now’:

Rescuers race to the Bahamas

MARCO BELLO/REUTERS

The Mudd neighborhood in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, was reduced to rubble by Hurricane Dorian. As many as 4 3 people have been

confirmed dead in the island nation after the storm — a number that is expected to rise as crews search for victims.

JENNIFER ROBERTS

Federal response: Pros, cons seen

in Tr ump’s eager approach. A

BY SHIBANI MAHTANI,

GERRY SHIH

AND TIFFANY LIANG

hong kong — When Bella, a

mainland Chinese student, re-

turned home after a week-long

program in Hong Kong, it didn’t

occur to her to take any special

precautions. She hadn’t ventured

near the protests that have

rocked the city.

Approaching the mainland

border point last month, the

21-year-old was pulled aside

along with several others. Offi-

cers combed her phone, discov-

ering Facebook and its Messen-

ger app, both banned in China.

She said her entry permit — a

card used by mainland Chinese

to travel to and from Hong Kong

— was briefly confiscated while

officers questioned her and ac-

cused her of deleting messages to

hide unspecified evidence.

“I was shocked that they

would do that without reason,”

said Bella, who gave only her first

name for fear of reprisal, ex-

plaining that she had download-

ed Facebook to follow fan pages

of her musical idol, David Bowie.

“I kept trying to explain, but the

officers wouldn’t believe me.”

As p rotests in Hong Kong h ave

intensified into a rebellion

against the Chinese state and its

increasing grip over the former

British colony, Beijing has grown

anxious about any kind of spill-

over to the mainland.

Chinese officials are trying to

solidify an ideological iron cur-

tain between Hong Kong and

mainland China — tracking peo-

ple who go back and forth,

ratcheting up propaganda, and

intimidating protest sympathiz-

ers — to ring-fence the mainland

from protesters’ pro-autonomy

viewpoints.

This campaign is playing out

at border crossings, in cyber-

space and on college campuses

as far afield as Australia and the

United States.

The Washington Post spoke to

almost a dozen Chinese students

and young professionals who

have been stopped and searched

at the border. Others on the

mainland say they have been

pressured by Chinese authorities

to delete social media accounts

and threatened with arrest for

expressing views deemed sup-

portive of protesters.

For President Xi J inping, these

SEE HONG KONG ON A

China’s firewall between

mainland, Hong Kong

Beijing moves to prevent

any spillover from

pro-democracy protests

TRAVIS LONG/NEWS AND OBSERVER

Marshall Brewer inspects his apartment in Nags Head after Dorian

slammed North Carolina’s Outer Banks, scattering debris.